good tuesday morning. coming up on "early today," the incredible details behind the police race that saved a 5-year-old boy held hostage for a week. from coast to coast, gas prices are rising as much as 17 cents in the past week alone. plus, a confidential justice department says the government can order the killing of american citizens. wait until we tell you why. and new details on the murder of navy s.e.a.l. chris crime. former president george h.b. bush out and about. and governor chris christie gets back at all those fat jokes made at his expense. "early today" starts right now.

>> announcer: this is "early today" for tuesday, february 5th, 2013. and a very good morning to you, i'm veronica de la cruz. before you head out, you might want to pad your wallet, gas prices up again. $3.52 that pats the highest ever for february. 17 cents from just last week, a spike of 22 cents since early joon. drivers in states like new york and california are feeling the pinch more than others. prices there are approaching $4 a gallon and that is making for extra pain at the pump. >> these higher gas prices generally affect the way i budget my money, where i choose to live and how i choose to spend my early time. >> more about the distance i'm driving. a weak dollar and a decline in the number of oil refineries have been blamed for the increase.

some analysts predict it will be less brutal than 2012 when the average household spent $3,000. thanks to a daring fbi rescue, a little boy who spent the week at the hostage of a murderer is safe this morning. >> i've been to the hospital. i have visited with ethan. he is doing fine. he's laughing, joking, playing, eating. the things that you would expect a normal 5 to 6-year-old young man to do. >> police say the boy's kidnapper 65-year-old jimmy lee dykes is dead. details are still unclear as law officials begin what they say say thorough and labor intensive investigation. nbc's kurt gregory has more. >> reporter: released in the small community of midland city, alabama, following the dramatic rescue of a 5-year-old held captive for seven days in an underground bunker.

wait that a tightly knit community had been anxious to hear. >> at approximately 3:12 this afternoon, fbi agents safely recovered the child who's been held hostage for nearly a week. >> reporter: police say the boy has been held captive by 65-year-old jimmy lee dykes after dykes boarded a school bus last week, shot and killed the bus driver. fbi said negotiations with dykes deteriorated within the last 24 hours and that dykes was observed holding a gun. >> at this point, fbi agents fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child. >> reporter: nbc news has learned a diversionary device was used and that the hostage rescue team entered in a door at the top of the bunker. >> by grace of god, he's okay. that was the mission of every

man and woman on this compound. >> reporter: the horrific ordeal now over for the 5-year-old. his parents and his community. kurt gregory, nbc news. >> well, nbc news has obtained a confidential justice department memo that contains the legal justification for drone strikes on american citizens. the document from the justice department says the government can order the killing of americans if they are believed to be senior operational leaders of al qaeda or an associated force. that applies even if there's no intelligence indicating that the americans are engaged in an active plot to attack the u.s. this document makes the case for drone strikes like the september 2011 attacks who kill the operative anwar al awlaki. front and center in washington as president obama holds high-level talks on a topic at the white house, house members will tackle the issue on

capitol hill. nbc's tracie potts joins us live with a preview. >> reporter: good morning. let's start at the white house. big group expected there today. two separate meetings, we've got labor leaders, business leaders included within the group, fbiu, the afl-cio, and also ceos of big companies like goldman sachs, coca-cola, united marriott, they're all coming together to talk about the impact of immigration. president obama wants a plan to put 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to stipulate shinn. republicans on capitol hill are worried that will happen before we secure the borders. separate from the white house meeting there's a hearing by house republicans here on capitol hill to talk about that. >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. the next foreign policy debate involves the state department, iran and a monkey. iran said it launched a monkey

into space last week. the pictures released before and after the alleged missions beg to differ. washington expresses doubt about any space journey. but iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad said he would like to give it a joe. senator john mccain ran into trouble when he tweeted, quote, so ahmadinejad wants to be the first iranian in space, wasn't he just there last week? many in the twitter-verse called the wording racist. he sent another tweet and said the comments were a joke and told the people to quote/unquote lighten up. last night, new jersey governor chris christie paid his first visit to david letterman who in the past has skewed him about his ample weight. during the late show experience governor christie pulls laughed when he pulled a donut from his

pocket and ate it. and read back safety letterman jokes. >> here's two. first one was celebrity birthday today, chris christie turns 50, he blew out the candles on his cake and he wished for another cake. [ cheers and applause ] >> a billion dollars will be spent on potato chips for super bowl sunday and that's just at governor christie's house. [ laughter ] >> all right. bill karins joins me now. >> we knew he'd be prepared. >> he was great. at least he was a good sport about it, right? >> of course, that's why people like him. this morning, the roads might not be so great if you're traveling around the new york city area, northern new jersey, maybe coastal connecticut. a dusting to an inch to make the secondary roads a little slick. it shob good on the main roads. other areas from philadelphia south you're fine. otherwise, a very quiet day around the system. a clipper system from wisconsin

through northern illinois, maybe chicago once again you'll see a few snowflakes. nothing too bad. temperatures have warmed slightly through the northern great lakes and also northern new england. we are looking at digits in the negative numbers but. we're actually looking at a nice day, warmup. areas in kansas city, st. louis, near 50 degrees. oklahoma city should be gorgeous. atlanta at 64, we're actually turning the corner. that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. so it is cold and chilly around areas like pittsburgh who will once again be seeing a chance of snow showers but again we're not looking for any major about operations. areas like minneapolis getting warmer. almost up towards 30. and it looks like we continue to warm it up here towards the weekend. >> i love when you say it's going to be warmer, it's going to be 30. >> in minneapolis, that's an

accomplishment. well, secretary of state john kerry said he's got big heels to fill. and an arkansas lottery. plus, a new study says chewing gum could be good for your brain. "early today" is back two minutes.

good morning. welcome back. here are some other stories making news this morning. new information for police show that the iraq war veteran charged of killing the navy s.e.a.l. ruth has told authorities he was suffering from posttraumatic stress order. secretary of state john kerry joked about the pressure following hillary clinton and the former condoleezza rice. >> can a man actually run the state department? i don't know. as the saying goes, i have big

heels to fill. and president george h.w. bush is feeling great and he went out to dinner saturday night at a restaurant in houston. his first night out since being released from the hospital. he had a martini and saved for two hours. a couple in arkansas are enjoying the profit. a whopper of a fishing trip. lottery officials say the couple bought two lottery tickets, both winners. one ticket for $50,000 was bought on the way to fishing. the second ticket bought on wait home was ace $1 million jackpot. congratulations. in health news now, a new japanese study says chewing gum can boost alertness, upwards of 10%. they say average reaction time is faster with gum chewers improving temporary blood flow to the train. the busiest day of the record for one company.

mcgraw hill tumbled 14% air civil lawsuit against the ratings agency over alleged wrongdoing. overseas this morning, bp beat fourth quarter earnings estimates. and keep an eye on yum brands. after the bell, pizza hut and kfc traded weak. microdell is a $14 billion to take his pc company private. boeing has formally filed a request with the faa to allow the company to resume test flights at three minors. it was grounded for a global investigation into battery fires. goldman sachs and melissa myers will be at the white house advising president obama on his economic agenda. the cost for next year's winter olympics in sochi has

ridge. about 5% more. and the first ice castle hotel is now open for business. with just the bare necessities goes for $85,000 a night. back on this continent, the royal canadian mint is no longer making or distributing pennies. the one cent coin costs 1.6 cents to produce. okay. i understand. beer produced beer from electrical electrical. you heard me right. plus, some police officers get the boot for goofing off while on the job. we'll have details next.

all right now to some stories that caught our eye this morning. we begin in south florida where internal affairs taped miami police grabbing coffee and kissing civilians instead of answering emergency calls like this one about an unconscious 5-year-old. >> 5-year-old not alert. [ inaudible ] >> the police department fired these officers for not responding and disciplined several other officers mentioned in the investigation report. next to michigan where the henry ford museum celebrated the birthday of ella parks.

park was arrested for failing to give up her seat to a white man. alaska is making what it called beer-powered beer. the brewery is using left over malt and barley to fire up the machines. using the spent grains is expected to save the company $500,000 in operating expenses. finally, check this out, in north carolina, a deejay lost his shirt and pants in a super bowl bet. he paid a big price for picking the 49ers to win. he had to wear a diaper on his head and derriere in full view of morning commuters. in sports, syracuse/notre dame. the number nine ranked orange got 18 points from c.j. farren who ustough defense. roger goodell said the power outage will not impact the city of new orleans of hosting the

show. and beyonce halftime show did not affect the power. it was 108.4 million people, that make the it the third most watched tv game in sports history. but the super bowl did set a new record of 24.1 twitter posts. central media around the world was way up except for people in greenland and russia. around the parents of the two super bowl coaches, jack and jackie harbaugh had a difficult time during the super bowl according to governor chris christie sitting next to them. >> they looked almost physically in pain. at the really did. i felt awful for them. they're just wonderful people. kind people, we had conversations during halftime. they were wonderful folks, but they were clearly in misery.

finally in europe, the investigation of world soccer has uncovered hundreds of expected cases of match fixing. authorities said there were 380 suspicious cases of match fixes in europe and another 300 around the world. >> early today sports brought to you by just for men. anchorman sequel gets bridesmaid and in cement, just as joe pesci predicted. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this terse morning. really only a heads-up forecast for areas like new york city, light snow out there. a little bit of a coating at most an inch. also coastal areas of connecticut into rhode island and eventually southern massachusetts. otherwise, a few snow showers in wisconsin, northern illinois, include in chicago today but not as much as the two inches you got yesterday. and much warmer temperatures are being to surge. that 51 in kansas city we'll see later. >> does sound good, 51. i would take it. a cozy three bedroom home is up for sale in west hollywood. the only catch is freddie krueger may end up haunting your dreams. it is for sale and listed for a cool $2.1 million. robert de niro cemented his place in history when he placed his hands and feet in concrete at the chinese theater. the oscar winner had this to say. >> you know, joe pesci always

said i'd end up with my feet in cement. i don't think is what he had in mind. speaking of joe pesci has settleded a lawsuit. he ended up gaining 30 pounds for a role that never happened. "snl" alum kristen wiig has officially joined the cast of the long awaited archerman sequel. and finally, a feature of guests, amy poehler, blake shelton even bill clinton. >> do you like anchorman -- the nightmere on elm street house freaks me out. i don't like it. >> i don't like scary movies in general, aren't you excited for? >> we'll see. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," this, your first stop of the day

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. the clouds are still hanging over us this morning. but you won't have to worry about snow as you head out the door. the changes coming to your forecast in a few minutes. first, good morning. i'm aaron gilchrist. i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" on february 5, 2013. take a good look at your screen. this is 6-year-old arian a burts. she's been missing since thursday night. police believe that ariana may be with a parent that does not have custody and that they may have left the district.

she was seen wearing purple pant, purple jacket and silver boots. if you have any information about her whereabouts, please call police. mayor gray is expected to call on more spending -- the post says gra wants to use part of a projected $240 million budget surplus on affordable housing. the rapid cost of living was one of the biggest concerns raised last year. he may call for raises for city employees. aits the 6th and i historic synagogue set tonight. that address does not come without controversy. empower d.c. will lead a protest outside the synagogue. it's upset with the city's plan to close 15 schools because of underenrollment. the group is --